Grace - The Story of a Blended Adoptive Family

Showing others grace is an important way to care and respect their growth as a person.

Create positive relationships and meaningful connections with family members, classmates, and teachers.

Regulate emotions, attitudes, and actions, and manage negative emotions and impulses.

Enthusiastic to understand more about themselves, others, and the world around them.

Exhibit a growth mindset and willingness to learn from mistakes.

Students will learn about the power an act of grace has on others through the story of a family who practices grace every day.

Who in your life is accepting of others when they make mistakes or make different choices? How do they show this acceptance?
What is grace?
- Grace is loving and accepting someone for who they are, in a compassionate and understanding way.

Think about the video.

In the video, Chris says, “Sometimes, we create barriers where barriers don’t need to be.” How can grace help us break down barriers between people?
At the beginning of the Kindness 101 video, Meryl calls grace “Kindness 201.” How is grace an elevated practice of kindness?
Is grace always your first instinct? Why or why not?
How do you know when someone needs grace?
When is grace challenging to show? What can you do in these situations where it may be necessary?
Do you have to earn grace? Why or why not?

Students will imagine themselves as someone who received an act of grace. Examples include:
- A time where they personally made a mistake or needed someone to understand
- A scenario relating to challenges your class faces
- Or, students can take the point of view of Schauna from the video and write a letter to Jennifer and Chris, her son Steven, or grandson Riley
In their letter, students should include:
- Who the letter is to
- A statement of thanks
- An outline of what happened
- How the act of grace impacted them
- How receiving grace could inspire them

Follow-up questions:
- How did it feel to be on the receiving end of grace?
- Why is it important to show grace to others?
- What are some ways we can show grace more often?

K-5

Write about a time this week where you gave someone grace. How did it feel?
Who in your life is a good role model of showing grace? Which of their habits could you try this week?

6-12

How can you practice showing yourself grace?
Write about a time where grace changed how you felt about a situation.
When was a time that you did not give grace to someone else? How would it have changed the situation?

Educators: Copy the Family Connection and email it to parents or click here to download a PDF version to email or print.

Watch

Discuss

Use these questions to start meaningful conversations about grace.

Grace is loving and accepting someone for who they are, in a compassionate and understanding way. What does grace look like in our family?
How can we remember to show grace to one another when it is challenging?
When do you wish you received more grace, both in our family and outside our home?

Activity

Create a Grace Jar as a family.
Anytime you witness someone practicing grace in your family or in your community, write it down on a slip of paper and place it in the jar.
After 1-2 weeks, read what everyone wrote down. Talk about the new ways you saw grace in your lives and discuss where it can be shown more.